Disintegrating mill



N. H. SWANSON DISINTEGRATING MILL Fi1ed Jan. 16

Jpne 15, 1937.

Patented June 15, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT` orties' 1 Claim.

My invention relates to mills and more particularly to a mill fordisintegrating grain coffee or similar materials.

It has become the practice in many communities to mount a mill upon avehicle and move it from one job to another. A mill of this type shouldtherefore be light and consume as little power as possible since themotive power therefore is usually mounted on the vehicle or derived fromthe driving means of the vvehicle itself.

An object of the invention is to provide a mill which is light in weightand consumes a relatively small amount of power.

A further object is to provide a mill which will cut instead of crush orgrind the material fed thereto.

A further object is to provide a mill having means for feeding thematerial by means of an air current and subsequently diverting the aircurrent without carrying ne particles of the disintegrated materialtherewith.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds. v

A complete understanding of the invention may be had by reference to thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingin which Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a mill embodying theinvention, and

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

The apparatus may be mounted on a pair of channel beams 5 and 6 by meansof which it is mounted on a vehicle or other base (not shown). Securedto the channel beams and extending upwardly therefrom are a pair ofangle beams 'l and 8 interconnected by a channel beam 9 at the upperends thereof. The beam 9 has a bearing support II secured to the underside thereof and extending upwardly through the beam. A

channel beam I2 is secured to and interconnects the channel beams 5 andB and has a housing I3 supported on the upper side thereof in verticalalignment with the bearing support I I. Bearing support II and housingI3 are provided with ball bearings for rotatably supporting a shaft I4.

A sleeve I5, on the lower portion of shaft I4, is rotatably supported atits lower end by a ball bearing co-operating with a central partition I6extending inward from the walls of housing I3 and at its upper endI byanother sleeve I I extending upward above sleeve I5 and provided with aball bearing co-operating with shaft I 4.

Sleeve I1 is provided with a radial flange I8 and a disc I 9 providedwith cutting teeth is mounted against the upper face of flange I8.Another sleeve 20 pinned on shaft I4 by a tapered pin v2l is alsoprovided with a radially extending iiange 22 and a disc 23 is mountedagainst the lower face of flange 22. A cap 24 surrounding the shaft I4and secured around the upper end of sleeve I'I keeps dust and thematerial being distintegrated from the bearing and retains lubricationfor the same at this point.

"On a horizontal shaft 25, rotatably supported by ball bearings inhousing I3 and driven through pulley 25 is mounted a bevel geary Allco-operating with a bevel gear 21 mounted onthe shaft I4 and withanother bevel gear 28 mounted on the sleeve I5. The outward end of shaft25 is provided with a lock nut 2'9 and enclosed by a cover 30 whichretains lubrication for the ball bearing at this point. A cover 3| onthe top of housing I3 protects the gear mechanism and provides anenclosed oil chamber for lubrication purposes. It will be noted thatthrough this gear mechanism the cutting discs I9 and 23 will roate inopposite directions relative to each other when the mill is driventhrough the pulley 26.

The disc 23 isl provided with three circular rows of cutting teeth 32preferably of eight teeth each while the disc I9 is provided with twocircular rows of teeth 33 preferably of ten teeth each, the rows of theupper and lower teeth alternating. Due to this arrangement of the teethonly two diametrically opposite sets of teeth will be in cuttingrelation at a time and when these two sets of teeth have passed throughthe cutting position two other diametrically opposite sets of teeth willbe in cutting relation. This arrangement results in a smooth and uniformdistribution of the power required to operate the apparatus and sincethe sets of teeth performing a cutting operation are diametricallyopposite a minimum of vibration of the apparatus will resuit.

The cutting edges of the teeth are preferably inclined from the verticaland the teeth are also preferably tapered as shown in Fig. 1, exceptthat the inner side of the inner row of teeth is vertical and the outerside of the outer row of teeth is vertical. The lower disc I9 may carrya screen 34 which is circular and extends in close proximity to theouter row of teeth on disc 23. This screen has apertures therein of suchsize that the maximum size particle to be cut may pass therethrough. Ifany particles are not cut sufciently fine between the teeth they will becaught in the screen and the outer row of teeth Cil will cut the portionof particles extending from the apertures in the screen until all of theparticles are of such size as to pass through the screen.

Mounted on the disc I9 and extending radially from the screen are aplurality of vanes 35 which form a fan and draw the material through therows of teeth in which action the fan is assisted by centrifugal forceVdue to the rotation of the discs.

The material to be disintegrated is fed into a hopper 36 provided with ashutter 31 having a lever 3B by means of which the rate of feed-n` l ingmay be regulated. From the hopper the material is fed into a funnelshaped receiver 39 which directs the material into apertures 4I inthe'upper disc. 'I'hese apertures are preferably inclined in such adirection as to draw the material downwardly. The outer periphery of thefunnel shaped receiver is provided with a plurality of apertures 42 foradmitting air into the receiver to the fan. The lower disc I9 is alsopreferably. provided with apertures 43 for permitting circulation of airthrough the rows of teeth to the fan.

In order to separatethe currents of air from the disintegrated particlesof material without carrying any of the fine particles with the aircurrents a device commonly known as a cyclone is provided around themill, and comprises a cone 44 having an outlet 45 for the disintegrated`material. The upper end of the cone is secured to a heavy metal ring46. The purpose of this ring is to protect the operator in the event ofbreakage of the rapidly rotating disintegrating discs.

Abutting the upper end of cone 44 is a second cone 41 inverted withrespect to the first cone and open for a large area at its apex. Abovethe cone 41 is a similar section of a cone 43 which is secured to theunder side of the funnel shaped receiver 39 and provides an air outlet49 from the cyclone from which the air may escape through largeapertures 5| into the atmosphere. Any dust which may collect around theoutside of cone 41 may be removed through an aperture 52 in ring 46which is normally closed by a, sliding door 53.

When the disintegrated material is thrown radially outwardly by the fanit also has a rota` tional movement whereby it is caused to rotatewithin the cones along the walls until it loses its rotational 'forceand settles to the bottom, while the air passes upwardly and out of thecones.

It will be understood that the embodiment of the invention hereindescribed is merely illustrative of the invention and that many changesand modifications may be made therein without departing fromthe spiritand scope of the invention. l

What I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patentis:

In a mill, a pair of discs rotatable in a horlzontal plane, means forrotating said discs in opposite directions, alternating circular rows ofcutting teeth on said discs, means for supplying material to bedisintegrated through apertures in the upper disc, a screen surroundingthe outer row of teeth on one of said discs, a fan carried by one ofsaid discs, and closed downwardly extending conoidal walls surroundingthe mill including means for positively directing the materialdownwardly for separating the disintegrated material from the aircurrents set up by the fan."

NILS H. SWANSON.

